Five takeaways from Indiana’s win against Kennesaw State

  • Dec 30, 2023 7:20 am in

Indiana wrapped up non-conference play with a 100-87 win against Kennesaw State on Friday night at Assembly Hall.

Here are five takeaways from the victory against the Owls:

Indiana once again dominates in the paint

After a hot start from the perimeter, Indiana quickly got to its bread-and-butter offensively against Kennesaw State: dominating the paint.

The Hoosiers buried four 3-pointers before the first media timeout, but interior dominance was the difference in the outcome. Indiana outscored Kennesaw State 52-26 in the paint in Friday’s win.

And when the Hoosiers weren’t converting at the rim, they were getting to the foul line. Indiana attempted 25 more free throws than the Owls and outscored them by 15 from the stripe.

It remains to be seen whether this can be a winning formula for Indiana once Big Ten play begins next week, but it’s clear through 13 games that this is how Indiana will play.

IU continues to rank in the bottom 10 nationally in 3-point attempts, but that didn’t matter on a night where it doubled its opponent’s scoring output on the interior.

Malik Reneau’s career night

With Kel’el Ware sidelined, Malik Reneau stepped up and delivered arguably his best game yet in an IU uniform.

Reneau poured in a career-high 34 points to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 37 minutes.

The 6-foot-9 lefty has overtaken Ware as the team’s leading scorer through 13 games. Reneau is averaging 16.2 points on 59.7 percent shooting.

“I just feel like the year I had (last season) just watching Trayce’s (Jackson-Davis) stuff, I seen a lot,” Reneau said postgame. “And now my game is slowing down and I’m able to create plays for myself and for others.”

While Reneau still gets himself in trouble at times in the paint by putting the ball on the floor in traffic – he committed five turnovers – his footwork and wide array of post moves are too much for most opponents to handle.

When he can catch the ball deep in the post, Reneau typically finishes plays or gets fouled. He attempted a team-high 11 free throws in Friday’s win and is getting to the line an average of 4.4 times per game.

Anthony Leal’s second-half spark

The stat line doesn’t stand out, but senior Anthony Leal helped change the game Friday night for the Hoosiers.

Leal scored just two points in 13 minutes, but Indiana was +17 with the Bloomington South product on the floor.

Playing time for Leal has been sporadic this season for the 2020 Mr. Basketball, but his defense and energy helped Indiana pull away late against Kennesaw State.

Leal entered the game with Indiana trailing by four with 12:59 to play. He immediately provided a spark by helping keep Terrell Burden, who had been getting past Gabe Cupps all half, out of the lane.

This type of performance should lead to more minutes for Leal.

“He’s a senior. He’s ready. I’ve seen it in practice,” Woodson said postgame. “He hasn’t done anything in terms of me not wanting him to play. He’s been really good in practice. And he deserves to probably play a little bit more because he is playing well.”

Indiana continues to allow 3-pointers at an alarming rate

Kennesaw State didn’t hesitate to go to its strength offensively against the Hoosiers: 3-point shooting.

And while Indiana led for more than 37 minutes, Kennesaw’s 3-point shooting kept the Owls in range for good part of the evening.

Kennesaw State hit 17 of its 35 3-point attempts, outscoring the Hoosiers by 30 points from the perimeter.

Through 13 games, Indiana’s opponents have attempted, on average, 14.1 more 3-pointers per game and have made 4.7 more 3s than the Hoosiers.

Woodson, however, wasn’t concerned about the 3-point discrepancy.

“We won. That’s what matters. They made a lot of shots, some tough shots,” he said. “It’s part of the game. But we didn’t fold. When we went down four, our defense kicked in, got stops. We executed on the other end, and got the lead and was able to bring it home.”

Ready or not, Big Ten play is here and IU has a lot of work to do

At 10-3, Indiana’s record is solid as Big Ten play is set to resume next week.

But the Hoosiers have a lot of work to do to reach the NCAA tournament for a third straight year.

After failing to register a notable non-conference win, Indiana will need to finish several games over .500 in conference play to have a chance to make the NCAA tournament field.

The Hoosiers are 87th in KenPom, 93rd in Bart Torvik and 102nd in the NCAA NET rankings. Despite its solid record, those metrics will need to improve drastically for Indiana to enter the tournament conversation.

As of Saturday morning, Torvik’s Tourney Cast gives the Hoosiers less than a 1 percent chance of making the NCAA tournament field.

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